Good place to get glasses for a young child?
Our son is a bit short-sighted and we need to look into getting him glasses. We went to the largest local hospital today (wangjing hospital) and they gave us some schpeel about how they have to dialate his eyes before they can verify his prescription and he won't be able to see properly for a month?!?!? So we have to wait until he is on vacation?!?!?! I have never heard of this before. I got glasses when I was in kindergarten, and I certainly don't remember anything like that. Is this one of those wierd Chinese medical things, like zou yuezi, zhao liang, re shang feng, and shu ye that I am just going to have to grit my teeth and put up with? Has anyone successfully gotten their young child's eyes tested and gotten glasses for them in reasonable time in Beijing? Preferably on a weekend, so I don't have to take off work/pull him out of class? I would prefer not to go to United Family or SOS, but if that is my only option for a less than one month solution then maybe I'll just grin and pay for it...
sorry -- i shouldn't vent but every time I have to deal with the local medical system I just want to throw in the towel and go home....
lhamo
Re: Good place to get glasses for a young child?
hmm, I don't have any direct experience with this but i did a quickie google search to find this:
http://www.aapos.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=1
Quote:Q. How can a child be tested for glasses, especially in infancy or early childhood?
A. An ophthalmologist can detect the need for glasses through a complete eye exam. Typically, the pupils are dilated in order to relax the focusing muscles, so that an accurate measurement can be obtained. By using a special instrument, called a retinoscope, your eye doctor can arrive at an accurate prescription. The ophthalmologist will then advise parents whether there is a need for glasses, or whether the condition can be monitored.
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